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Women’s Entrepreneurship. GVEP’s experience in working with women entrepreneurs as part of the DEEP project in East Africa. Presentation’s outline. Highlights GVEP's experience with working with women energy entrepreneurs in DEEP Provides an overview of DEEP
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Women’s Entrepreneurship GVEP’s experience in working with women entrepreneurs as part of the DEEP project in East Africa
Presentation’s outline • Highlights GVEP's experience with working with women energy entrepreneurs in DEEP • Provides an overview of DEEP • Profile of women entrepreneurs in DEEP • Emerging outcomes/impacts of our interventions in financing women entrepreneurs.
Introduction to GVEP • Aim is to accelerate access to modern energy. • GVEP was established in 2002 at the World Summit for Sustainable development in Johannesburg • In 2006 GVEP became a registered charity • Active in 19 countries –Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Developing Energy Enterprises Project (DEEP) EA • Is a 5 year project funded by EU/DGIS • The project assists the with the identification of viable energy enterprises, market opportunities, technology options, and service structures to generate revenue and sustain business. • DEEP also assists entrepreneurs to develop business plans and access finance. • Around 885 micro-entrepreneurs are being supported • Currently 1.7 million beneficiaries
Loan guarantee fund • Was initiated in 2009, implemented 2010 • Aim of increasing access to investment finance for EMSME’s • Bridge gap between financing institutions and EMSME’s. • Fund is structured as a revolving fund portfolio of guarantees are made with FI’s.
Profile of women entrepreneurs in DEEP Programme • 56% male, 42% being female and 2% groups • Female entrepreneurs are generally less mobile than male entrepreneurs. • men have a higher level of access to information and ability to source products for sale • Female engage in businesses that do not need a high level of capital, • Females use low technology and deal in products that can sell to immediate markets.
A woman entrepreneur assembling KCJ stoves Completed KCJ stoves ready for the market
Challenges • Difficulty in finding right FIs to work with. • Takes an average of 4-5 months of contractual agreements. • High interest rates charged by selected FIs. • Lack of awareness of energy enterprises by FI’s. • Some FI’s are not attracted by small amounts of guarantees. • FI’s want to remain with enterprises' they are familiar with.
Lessons learnt and implications on energy policy • Financial availability and accessibility is a major barrier for both female and male entrepreneurs and constrains their growth • Women face specific challenges in accessing credit. • Women tend to be more rationed, i.e. their loan applications are more often rejected. • Women borrow less than male counterparts
Continued • Financial institutions are not aware of energy businesses and don’t have expertise in evaluating these loans. • Training and awareness raising in these areas need to continue • Proactive use of a guarantee fund it is possible to enable female led businesses to access loans • More research is needed into why fewer women are seeking loans in some areas and why average loan sizes are lower for women.
Continued • Women are more common in improved cook stoves and briquette enterprises, but can succeed in areas normally dominated by men. • Encourage women to diversify into other energy technologies such as solar, biogas and others using the same value chains that they already have. • Support services to enterprises need to cover both financial and non-financial interventions to enhance the development and sustainability.
